By Terryn Shiells, Commodity News Service Canada
July 19, 2013
WINNIPEG – ICE Futures Canada canola contracts closed mostly lower on Friday, after seeing choppy activity throughout the day amid positioning ahead of the weekend.
Some of the selling was speculative in nature, as traders were said to be liquidating positions following Thursday’s close below key technical support levels.
The upswing in the value of the Canadian dollar put further downward pressure on prices, as it made canola less attractive to crushers and foreign buyers.
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Reports that most western Canadian canola crops are off to a good start amid beneficial weather conditions were also bearish.
On the other side, there is still enough uncertainty about the new crop to keep a weather premium built into prices, which provided some underlying support.
Canola futures were also underpinned by spillover support from the advances seen in Chicago soybeans and soyoil.
A slowdown in farmer selling, as producers are waiting for stronger prices, helped to limit the downside in canola.
About 11,836 canola contracts were traded on Friday, which compares with Thursday when 11,759 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 4,262 of the contracts traded.
Milling wheat, durum and barley futures were untraded on Friday.
Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric ton.
